Can I use my parents' insurance for therapy without them finding out?

A: Yes, and California wrote the mechanism into law. If you are 18 or over — or a minor who can legally consent to the care yourself — you can file a confidential communication request with the health plan, and the plan must then send every communication about that care to you: the explanation of benefits, the bills, claim notices, denials, anything containing your health information. Mental and behavioral health is explicitly on the list of "sensitive services" this covers. You do not have to give a reason. The old law let plans demand a statement that disclosure would endanger you; since July 2022 they cannot ask.¹ The request stays in force until you revoke it, and the plan must act on it within 7 calendar days of an electronic or phone request, or 14 days by mail.¹

Worked example: you're 22, on a parent's PPO, and you don't want a $40 copay line reading "psychotherapy, 90834" landing in the family mailbox every week. You call the member number on the card, ask for a confidential communication request, give your own address and email, and get confirmation. The claims still process normally — the money side is unchanged — but the paper follows you instead of the policyholder.

Do this: make the request before your first session, not after; it governs communications the plan sends from then on, and an EOB already mailed cannot be recalled. Ask for written confirmation and keep it. If the plan refuses or stalls past the deadline, that is a complaint to the DMHC Help Center at 888-466-2219 — here is how to file one →.

Sources

1. California Civil Code §56.107, as amended by AB 1184 (2021), effective 1 July 2022 — confidential communications requests for sensitive services; no statement of endangerment may be required; 7-day electronic / 14-day mail implementation — codes.findlaw.com. Verified 17 August 2026.